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Award for Governor Idris: America lady raises alarm over SSS harassment
From CHUKS EHIRIM, Abuja
AN American lady; Hilda Josef, who is country representative of Kasha International
Agriculture Development Organization... Reach
Out Nigeria takes Independence celebration to next level
By
KELECHI DECA
AS Shakespeare rightly points that there is a tide in the affairs of men,
I believe there is also a tide in the affairs of a nation and the waves of
that tide started rising in 2007...
Importers
of unregistered products now to pay N5m fine
By ANDREW OJIEZEL
WORRIED about reported cases of faking of registered products, despite persistent
battle to curb the menace, the Director General of National for Food, Drug
Administration and Control ...
Niger
Delta Crisis: Shell, other oil companies face probe
By NWADIKE UGOCHUKWU
HARDER times await oil multinational companies operating in the Niger Delta
region with the searchlight of the country's security agents now beaming on
them even as the abduction of...
Bankole,
Almona-Isei troubles escalate
From OGBU NGENE, Abuja
WITH the House
of Representatives set to resume sitting, more troubles are said to be laying
siege for Speaker Hon. Dimeji Bankole. The high regard...
Ernest Chukwuka
Anene Ndukwe @ 60: The measure of a man
IN his
well talked of luminous memoir titled The Measure of a Man, actor, producer
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News
• Yar'Adua identifies
root cause of nation's under-development
• Christ Embassy unveils
ReachOut Nigeria, Thursday
• Govt sacks residents of
Imo parliamentary quarters
• Constituency
delimitation: Ideato leaders reject Rep member
• PTDF
targets 70 per cent of Nigeria 's manpower needs
• Money bags blamed for
nation's political crisis
• Stop parading yourself
as monarch, Daniel warns Ijoko community leader
• Native doctor killed by
angry youths
• Rep member empowers 1,000
Ebonyi youths
• ‘Abscond from duty,
lose your job’
• 20 killed in communal
clash
• Human trafficking uncheckable
in Nigeria –Monarch
• 1,000 illegal structures
demolished
• Commuters
poised for war over 'Okada' helmets
• Women empowerment gets
boost
• Educationist wants children
of public servants banned from private aschools
• Govt move against fresh
outbreak of Bird flu
Relating Stories
• Against militarization
of Lagos
• Pensioner resists forceful
takeover of his property
• Anti-fraud group supports
fight against palm oil importation
THE just concluded conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the
subsequent emergence of a new national leadership under Rotimi Akeredolu-Ale;
a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) was one soul-lifting moment in the life
of the Association which position in the affairs of the nation would continue
to remain relevant.
The smooth transition from the past administration ably led by Mr. Olisa Agbakoba
(SAN) offered us the opportunity to believe that NBA is truly a body populated
by organised men and women of the “learned profession”
That Akeredolu-Ale was returned unopposed signalled a new dawn that also offers
hope that the new leadership would move the stakes higher beyond mere consolidating
on Agbakoba's modest achievements but addressing some critical issues in the
nation's hugely troubled legal system.
Over time, certain observations particularly in relation to the country's
criminal justice administration have remained worrisome perhaps particularly
due to the innate helplessness on the part of the less privileged who constitute
the greater number of victims of our societal arbitrariness.
The judiciary as one of the three essential pillars of any society particularly
in a democracy; cannot afford to assume a less noble role in Nigeria hence
it becomes highly imperative for stake-holders in the sector to be up and
doing.
While we quite appreciate the role played so far by the judiciary in recent
times particularly the vibrancy brought by the leadership of NBA under Agbakoba
to out-rightly oppose the arbitrariness in the corridors of power, one hastens
to say that much is still expected from the Association which position is
naturally a catalyst to the culture of illegality, inequality and abuse of
constitutional process inherent in our system.
One is gladdened to note from media reports a few days ago that the NBA under
Akeredolu-Ale has expressed worry over the delay in handling election petition
appeals in some states and has indicated interest to take up the matter. However;
beyond this, the Association as the new leadership may know has much to do
in terms of our criminal justice system that has largely been to the great
disadvantage of suspects or accused in some cases, particularly suspects in
the less privileged class.
While we admit the fact that ours is a developing society where certain infrastructural
requirement and human expertise are lacking in the prosecution of criminal
cases, we need to admit also our collective failure as a people not quite
willing to make a paradigm shift. Otherwise, how do we explain a situation
where a suspect who in the face of the law is presumed innocent be incarcerated
for about eight years in his status as a suspect while the offence for which
he is charged is argued by both the prosecution and defence.
If we strongly believe in the presumption of innocence of a suspect but go
ahead to keep him ad infinitum in detention while the trial lasted, how do
we compensate for the years wasted if at the end of the trial, the suspect
is discharged and aquitted?
It is agreed that our criminal justice procedure does not (for now) allow
the granting of bail on certain offences like armed robbery, murder, attempted
murder, treason and other related offences except under very rare circumstances
often bordering on health, yet a situation where a suspect presumed innocent
is confined to prison for years at the pleasure of his prosecutors, in the
interest of fairness, needs a critical review.
My argument for a middle course approach in this regard hinges on the fact
that no one has two lives and once a life is wasted under certain conditions
not based on proved culpability to a crime, it becomes inimical to natural
justice.
Another aspect of our criminal justice system is the non-compensatory position
of crime victims in most cases. It is observed that under the criminal procedure
that while the law is aiming at punishing the culprit or suspect once found
guilty, little or nothing is done by the state to legally compensate the victim
or dependants of the victim of the crime as the case may be.
The Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON); a Lagos based non-governmental
organisation sometime last year took the gauntlet by forwarding a letter to
the Senate seeking a legislative backing for the state to officially compensate
victims of crime. To the best of my knowledge, the Foundation has not achieved
much yet, as it faces some bottlenecks in terms of legislative procedure.
We have endless cases of armed robbery attack, murder and what have you, yet
surviving victims of such attack or the dependant relatives of dead victims
of such attacks are not catered for by the state which ordinarily has the
constitutional responsibility to provide security for all irrespective of
tribe, religion, political affiliation or social status.
The fore-going issues of concern seriously need to be taken up by the NBA
and one verily believes in the ability of Akeredolu-Ale and his team to achieve
resoundingly even as I wish them a successful tenure.